City Council approves plans for new Twin Pines facility

City Council members approved development plans for the construction of a new Twin Pines Adult Care Center during their meeting City Hall on Monday.

Danielle Brown Kirksville Daily Express @danibrown_kde

Construction on a new facility for the Twin Pines Adult Care Center will start later this year after Kirksville City Council members approved development plans for its new location.

City Council members approved development plans for the construction of a new Twin Pines Adult Care Center during their meeting City Hall on Monday.

The new center will be located at 1900 Jamison St., at the intersection of LaHarpe and Jamison and adjacent to the Adair County YMCA. The building will be one story, with six wings and two entrances on both streets.

The building would also include more than 140 parking spots. City ordinance requires one parking space for each bed. The new facility is required to have 140 parking spots.

Twin Pines purchased the property, which is on a lot zoned as a Planned Unit Development. The zoning designation requires a site plan to be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission and approved by the City Council. Planning and Zoning approved plans for the new facility during its Dec. 14 meeting.

“This is a nice looking building and the goal of the whole (PUD) ordinance was to make sure that we’re not designing and building things that would take away from the value of the properties that are in this area,” Codes and Planning Director Brad Selby said.

Representatives with Twin Pines said construction would start in the spring and would last approximately 16 months.

In other business, Kirksville Police Department officials updated City Council members on department operations and the possibility of adding more officers to its staff.

During 2016, KPD responded to 29,970 calls for service, an increase of about 1,400 calls, according to Kirksville Police Chief Jim Hughes.

Hughes also made a case of the city providing additional funding for KPD as it looks to address staffing concerns.

He said the department currently has three shifts with five officers and one shift with four officers, and the department requires a minimum staffing of three officers.

KPD is also looking to fill two openings for police officer positions.

“I believe that the minimum staffing should be four and in order to get the minimum staff of four, that would mean adding five officers. That would mean one more (officer) on each shift and then that one shift that only has four now could be brought up to five,” Hughes said on Monday.

“We’re getting along, but it’s starting to get a little tough with that (call) increase.”

If a Parks and Recreation sales tax is placed on the upcoming Municipal Election ballot, and passed, it could free up about $333,900 from the General Fund.

City Council member Rick Steele said he would like to see any additional funding in the city’s budget go toward law enforcement and E911.

“I really feel like 911 and KPD are two areas we really need to put some money in,” Steele said.